Yes, because:

- the theatre chains only have mostly generic datasets (the audience for movie X is mostly young white males) while MoviePass can do far more detailed analysis (and, in theory, could pass detailed questionnaires after you watched a movie, thus gathering more personalized data)

- online movie booking services (at least in my social bubble) are only used for movies where people think they don't have a chance to get a ticket without an early reservation

- movie review sites only have tiny bits of data about the readers, and the reviewer dataset is skewed - it only provides data about the people caring enough to do a review.

Chains have data only for the times people visited their own chains (and might not have much info for counter sales), online booking services have a similar problem, movie review sites are much more limited in that not everyone writes a review for any movie they watch, leave alone all the movies they watch.

Do me a favor and turn off your GPS after purchase so the app doesn't track the viewing time of the movie you actually went to. Abuse of the service like what you're doing may force them to add restrictions. Not cool, IMO.

> I just pick the first thing it’ll let me check in for, not the movie or time I want, and it always works.

This... is a great idea...

Credit card companies and the banks behind them do not see which movie a customer went to, only that they went to see some movie.

> The ticket costs for the movie and dinner type places are usually cheaper since they can make it up on food

For some of them, this may be true. However, one I visited in the Midwest put their 'eat & watch' section in an exclusive balcony above the standard seating area and was charging almost double per ticket (along with sub-Applebee's food at Chili's prices). They have apparently been in business for over five years doing this.

I enjoyed the experience, but I ultimately didn't feel it was worth the extra cost, and the sound of silverware on ceramic plates & bowls was a bit distracting. Handheld food and fancy paper/plastic plates and utensils would be how I'd run that operation.

That's weird — here, the more full-service a theater is, the more expensive it is. Some theaters have more extensive food selections and serve booze, and those are more expensive than normal theaters. Others actually have servers take your order and bring it to you in the theater, and those are more expensive still. I figured it was a sort of price discrimination — the people who want to eat expensive food while watching a movie are less likely to care if the ticket cost an extra $5 because that's a tiny fraction of the evening's total cost.

moviepass works for new movies, you just have to show up first thing in the morning and reserve a night show. Never had problems getting a good seat myself at a regal with reclining/reserved seats.

Where in the US have you been watching movies? I’ve never experienced this. The worst I’ve seen (and it bugs the heck out of me still) is people clapping when something big happens, but that is still quite rare.

I’ve seen films in upstate NY, SF, SD, LA area, and beautiful New Hampshire.

Same here - and I've been to theatres in multiple EU countries. People definitely don't talk, absolutely don't talk on their phones(they would be kicked out if they did), and eating - meh, just the standard popcorn stuff. I've been to one theatre which also served proper food but you actually sat at a table not in a theatre seat, it felt more like a restaurant with the film playing in the background.

>but theaters control the end product, so I doubt they'd share revenue. They're more likely to compete against MoviePass if the plan works.

This seems the most likely to me; I mean, if I were to buy a ticket subscription, I'd want that at the theaters that I go to often; I am happy to pay full price when I go somewhere unusual.

This means there's almost no network effect... my favorite theater could put up a subscription service that only worked at that one location, and it would instantly have more value than MoviePass that might or might not include access to that theater next month. Even better would be a regional service, but in this case, at least on the customer end, I don't think making the service national adds very much value at all.

I've seen your post - it does make sense to be that way indeed.

True. How do you know they would've gone to see a movie though?

That's what seems weird about this whole gravy train - the various drivers of the business clash with each other. More movies per person, more data, but more margin loss. Fewer movies per person, more margin, less data. More studio deals, more revenue, less margin.

I think they're exploring various business models and finding where the sustainable value is. Will be interesting to see!

This is a way to reduce the costs, but it can't be a way to make any profit (or just break even). You'll always burn a lot of money.

I can't believe there isn't a way to get movie attendance data for less than, say, 5$ per data point.